Eddie Large kept nurses laughing and joking until he lost coronavirus battle

The 78-year-old was being treated in hospital for heart failure when he fell ill with Covid-19 and tragically passed away

Eddie Large's son Ryan says his dad was laughing and joking right till the end before his tragic death from coronavirus.

The star filled his days by entertaining nurses and visitors at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital.

Ryan said: “He was always laughing and joking with the nurses.

“He always showed them a photo of himself and Syd with Ant & Dec because you had all the young nurses thinking ‘who is this guy messing about telling me jokes?’.

“He’s meant to be on death’s door and he’s still messing about telling jokes! He was telling jokes literally until his last breath.

Ryan McGinnis with his dad Eddie Large

“He would say ‘Patsy, get the photo out! See if they recognise anybody!

“They’d look at it and say ‘oh that’s Ant & Dec!’ and he’d say ‘who’s standing next to them? And they’d say ‘it’s you!’. He’d say ‘see!’. He used to love doing that.”

Ryan says he and the family have been touched by all of the tributes they have received to Eddie since his death, including from Ant & Dec, who worked with his father and Syd on Saturday Night Takeaway in 2018.

Other tributes have been made by comedians Jason Manford and Michael Barrymore, who worked with Eddie at the start of his career.

And the family have also received calls and messages from Eddie’s famous pals, including Jimmy Tarbuck, Bobby Davro, Kevin Keegan, Man City stars Mike Summerbee and Brian Kidd and Linda Lusardi and her husband Sam Kane.

Ryan added: “As soon as people heard about dad’s death, everyone was talking about it and in such positive ways and with such amazing stories and nice things.

“I just wish he was here to see it and I could tell him about it. He was a great dad.”